I decided to check on my blog tonight to see if it still existed. It does! Do people still blog? Seems like social media has taken over. But I never write long posts on Facebook, so I have missed writing here. Or maybe just writing in general.

The New Normal

Kyle's been home for a week. He raced across the country and made great time, sleeping with family and one night in his car at a rest stop in Indiana. I know, freaky. And now he's here. For good.

We are in a readjustment period. I haven't slept well in a week because I am not used to someone next to me in bed, particularly someone who makes noise. Kyle doesn't snore loudly or consistently, but he does some weird breathing things and I get woken up. I know I'll adjust, but right now I'm tired.

It's so nice having him around to help with driving and kid stuff in the evenings. I was getting pretty tired. I've been cooking actual dinners and that makes me happy, too. The kids are mostly happy he's home, but I think we were in a good place and routine and now it's a bit disrupted. Everyone needs to be kind and patient and we'll work out all the kinks.

We are almost done with a very busy 2 months of sports and activities. Track ends tomorrow and soccer ends in a couple of weeks. I can feel summer inching its way here. The pool is open and Kyle took the kids last Saturday when it was a lovely 80 degrees. I got some herbs and seeds to start the garden; we just need to prep it first. The strawberries are ripening and the blueberries look good. Time to get the deck furniture out and put the hammock up. I love this time of year.

Can you believe it's May already?? Wow!

Here are some photos from our recent adventures. 

 Hayden's been learning to high jump at track. The coach says he's a natural.

 Finishing a tough 1500m race. He got under 6 minutes, which was his season goal!

 Jillian finishes a windy 1500m race at JV districts. She had a great season and made her goal times.

 "Don't take my picture."

 Kara's class did a dance to music from Colombia for their Fiesta Cultural. Kara practiced every day.

 The girls before the performance.

 Me with my munchkins on Mother's Day. I had a great day and got amazing cards that made me happy. Kyle made a delicious dinner and my nap was epic.

 In March Hayden turned 12 and was ordained as a deacon in the Aaronic Priesthood. He was so excited and looked so handsome. It was a great day for him and our family.

 

Hayden with Uncle Wayne, Kyle, and his Grandpa Jim (my dad).

Mini Rant

I've spent a lot of time reading diet and exercise books, trying to figure out how to make my body healthy and happy. I call my dietician sister too often with questions and problems, and she graciously tries to help me even though I usually sound crazy.

After trying a few diets and attempting to reset my metabolism (with some success), I've made some tweaks to my diet and have learned which foods make me feel good and which I should avoid. I guess I've pinned enough recipes and workouts on Pinterest that I now get sponsored suggested pins about diet and exercise. Most of these drive me crazy.

One of these pins shows the headline "5 foods never to eat again" with a picture of a banana. Why should I never eat a banana again? I can see if you were really trying to lose a lot of weight, or be very careful about sugar intake, you might avoid bananas. But that would only be after eliminating every other source of sugar (including dried fruits, honey, and artificial sweeteners). But that's not me. So I'm going to eat bananas. Great source of potassium and very versatile, not to mention portable. I can't tell you the other 4 foods because I refuse to click on the pin.

The one I saw tonight was "Foods you should never eat after the age of 45" with a photo of a stack of bagels. Don't even get me started. Headlines like these and strange rules about foods we should "never" eat don't help solve the obesity and food obsession problems many people have. Although I'll probably choose to never eat a Twinkie again, it's not because I think they are not food (they're not), but because I don't like the way they taste. Any sort of extreme diet is probably not sustainable and not great for your body. These silly headlines don't only apply to articles about diet, though.

One of the reason I quit my writing job was because I was tired of having to write "click bait" headlines to get people interested in my articles. It seemed disingenuous (that word is hard to spell) and ridiculous.  I know I'm not the only person who is tired of reading "10 ways to make your husband fall in love with you instantly" or "7 ways moms are secretly harming their children."

I hereby promise not to bombard you with any click bait titles or hyperbolic lists. I'll just give you the advice I gave Kara tonight. Vegetables should be the food group you eat the most of, and sweets should be the food group you eat the least of. And if you make it to age 80, you should eat whatever the heck you want. That's my plan.

Feeling Rusty

I feel clumsy as I try to write a post today. Writing is a skill that goes away if you don't use it, I've found. I hope you don't mind my clumsiness as I try to blog again.

Kyle was home for a long weekend as a surprise. It was a much-needed visit and now his time in Boston is almost done. Have I mentioned before that Kyle is a pretty smart dude? On Monday as he was talking on the phone to a colleague about a paper and I was cleaning the house, I was reminded again of how much he knows about his work and how little I understand. It's very specific and somewhat complicated stuff. That man has a Ph.D. and I spend my days vacuuming and cleaning up the same messes over and over again. Huh.

I know it's time for a change in my life, in some ways at least, and I'm trying to figure out what I want to do. Kate starts full-day kindergarten in the fall, but I am still the main caretaker for the kids, especially until Kyle has tenure (spring of 2016). My plan for now is to spend more time volunteering in the classroom to figure out if I want to teach again, and to write more. I'm glad I don't have to work if I don't want to, but sometimes I wish I had a little push to get some of my old ambition back. Young Amy had all sorts of dreams and goals. I reached a lot of them, but I didn't realize how mundane a lot of my adult life would be. I'm ready to change that.

What dreams have you not realized yet?

Is this thing on?

Test, test. This, my cyber friends, is my first blog post of the year. Should it also be my last? I quit my writing job in March because it was making me stressed out and unhappy, so I am feeling a writing void in my life. Kyle still thinks I can write a best-selling novel, but I have my doubts. Until then, maybe a few blog posts will get the words flowing again. I shall endeavor to think of something exciting to say. Tomorrow.

Sassy 4 year-old available to borrow

Think I might get in trouble if I put an ad like that on Craigslist? Maybe.

I love Kate Michelle, I do. She is darling and precocious and funny and smart. But I'm done with her for a while. If her father wasn't coming home tomorrow (praise the heavens!) I would have to ship her off to one of her aunts for a few days just to regain my sanity. Lately she is Miss Whiny Pants with an extra side of "No." Whew! When I tell her to go potty, she tells me "You don't know how the inside of my body is feeling." True, true. But I do know you've peed in your pants 3 times in the past week.

Kate is super helpful and loves to be doing whatever I am doing. She and I often cook dinner together and she does a great job. It's just that I am googleplex times less efficient when she is with me every second of the day. She does not play well by herself, so my only respite when I want to do things like clean toilets or other such exciting and potentially hazardous jobs is to have her watch TV. Only she doesn't watch TV anymore, she just watches shows on the iPad until I pry it away from her sticky little hands.

I realized I wasn't imagining how unable she is to entertain herself (or unwilling?) until this week, when Kara was home sick with the stomach flu. Kara was a model patient, getting to the bathroom to throw up on time all by herself and patiently resting in bed, never asking for anything but gratefully accepting anything I offered her. When Kara woke me up at 4:00am to tell me she threw up, she apologized for waking me and wanted to just put herself back to bed. I had her stay home an extra day just to make sure she was all better and she played upstairs contentedly all by herself for several hours, occasionally asking me to come see her latest creation. I got more house-cleaning and projects done with a sick kid at home than I usually do with Kate home. (By the way, Kate was insistent on watching Kara throw up, asking her about her throw up, asking her if she needed to throw up again, and on and on. Luckily she finally went to afternoon preschool that day so Kara and I could both get some rest.)

This is not a "Kate is bad, Kara is good" post. It's just that Miss Kate is going through a phase and it's taking too long to get out of. I'm desperately trying not to spoil her even though she's the youngest and maybe even the cutest. I don't give her what she wants all the time, but she is very insistent on having what she wants and sometimes I just can't take it anymore.

But tonight I can take it, because she's in bed. I made up a very humorous (just ask me) song about how Mommy's favorite time of the day is bedtime. It involved some hip shaking. I may be losing my mind.

And tomorrow night (and for the next 7 nights after that), her father can put her to bed.